Smile
by AlienBlondie
Summary: Every since that day, Sasuke was always a little... off. One day, a boy smiles at him and everything suddenly feels right.


Uchiha Sasuke was a nutcase.

There's simply no other way to explain it. And he would be damned if he didn't have a good reason. He had been in the car with his mother and father when he was six, driving to go pick his older brother, Itachi, from his friend's house. So, being right behind his parents, he had a front row seat to watch their death. The cargo truck had come practically out of no where, killing his parents instantly and shattering Sasuke's left arm and leg.

And of course, it was only down hill from there.

Sasuke knew that his parents were dead, somewhere in his mind at least, but to him, they were still alive. They were always right there with him, whispering to him. Always whispering, constantly whispering. But he could never quite understand what they were saying. So when a lady with a sickly sweet sounding voice and too much perfume came to take Itachi and Sasuke to an orphanage, Sasuke just couldn't fathom why.

He kept telling them, _I'm not an orphan, my parents are right there, what do you mean they aren't there, of course they are, why can't you see them, I'm not an orphan, let go of me!_

But they never listened. He tried many times to convince them that he wasn't an orphan. He told the people at the shelter, his teachers, his roommates, random people he had never met.

He even told Itachi. Itachi just smiled.

A year had passed since his parents had seemingly become invisib[e, and people were becoming concerned. Adults started watching him closer, and kids started avoiding the "freak." Poor Sasuke had no idea why though. His parents were alive, they were right there! They were always right there! Sasuke was even starting to distinguish words in the quiet whispers. _'Don't listen to them, Sasuke. They are liars. We are here. We are with you. We would never leave you. Don't listen to the lying ones. You don't need them, Sasuke. You only need us. You don't need them._ They would reassure Sasuke not to listen to the liars, they were right there and not going anywhere.

Two years passed since the crash and almost everyone was avoiding him. Adults watched him warrily from afar, children avoided him like the plague. But not Itachi. He stayed with Sasuke and just smiled at his precious little brother. The whispers never ceased. If anything they got louder. Telling him to never listen to the others. Never listen to the liars. That's all they are. All Sasuke need were his parents, and they weren't going anywhere.

Many more years passed and eventually he simply stopped saying that his parents were alive. He still believed it of course, but he just didn't say it. Except for Itachi, nobody approached him, so Sasuke had no reason to try to convince any one. He never raised his hand in class, he never spoke to anyone, he never drew attention to himself. He only spoke to Itachi, but he didn't even need to say that his parents were alive anymore. He knew that Itachi would only smile. And the whispers, got louder and louder. Always louder, never ceasing.

Then on his twelfth birthday, almost six whole years after the world started ignoring his parents existence, a child who looked about Sasuke's age decided to speak with the "freak." Maybe they could become friends. After all, that's what the other children called him, as well.

"Hey, it's your birthday today, right?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He just stared, dumbfounded, until he eventually nodded.

"That's cool. 'Ya know, I was actually wondering if you wanted to hang out with me? I'm kinda alone a lot, and I saw you alone too..." The child looked down sheepishly at his shoes, blushing profoundly.

Sasuke didn't answer. He looked over at Itachi, who had been reading a book, but was now looking over at Sasuke and smiling. He nodded before going back to his book. So Sasuke stood up and the child looked up at Sasuke, stunned for a moment before beaming.

Sasuke decided he liked his smile.

"Do you wanna go outside and play on the swings?" The child asked, and Sasuke simply nodded. The child beamed again and led the way outside.

Sasuke decided that he should never stop smiling.

For a while, they had a lot of fun. The child had even managed to coax a few words out of Sasuke eventually.

"Hey..." Sasuke mumbled. The child looked over at him, caught off guard that he had decided to say something. "What's your name, anyway? My name's Uchiha Sasuke."

The child watched him for a few seconds with a startled expression before smiling widely and sticking his thumb to his chest and announcing, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it!"

Sasuke decided that he would never let Naruto stop smiling.

And from then on they were best friends.

The whispers even went back to being just that, whispers. Fragments of words that he just couldn't make out.

Until one day a few months, later his best friend was adopted. Naruto had been thrilled and slightly astonished by the news and wasted no time in telling the whole world that he, Uzumaki Naruto, had a family. He had been adopted by a slightly elderly couple called Tsunade and Jiraya, who Naruto promptly dubbed Baa-chan and Ero-sennin, much to their annoyance.

Sasuke pretended to be happy for Naruto and made and honest attempt to like his adoptive parents (or grandparents, whatever), but he couldn't help but absolutely loath them. He hated the horrible people who were taking away _his_ Naruto. Not theirs, how dare they even think they have a claim on him. _His_ precious Naruto, who made the whispers quiet again. How dare they take away his first and only friend.

The whispers seemed to get a bit louder.

But if he showed he was upset, then Naruto would be upset, too. Naruto would stop smiling, and he had promised himself that he would make sure his Naruto never stopped smiling.

They were hugging each other and saying their goodbyes to each other when it happened. Everything broke.

"Ha, look, it's the crazy kid who thinks his parents are still alive and the freak with whiskers! They're perfect together! Crazy and Whiskers! " A young girl, maybe a year his senior goaded at them. Naruto's smile seemed to falter.

The whispers grew louder.

"You're such a freak! Who has whiskers? Did your druggie parents carve them on you before they overdosed? Ha! What losers!"

And then Sasuke's only source of sanity, Naruto's smile, was gone.

The whispers were louder than the obnoxious girl now.

"And you! The lunatic who thinks his parents are actually still alive! I'm surprised they haven't carted you off to the loony bin yet! Actually, I bet they will any day now! We all know it's coming, you're completely insane!"

The whispers were practically screaming in his ear at this point.

_'HURT HER, MAIM HER, KILL HER! HOW DARE SHE'S DONE WHAT SHE'S DONE! SHE MADE NARUTO STOP SMILING! SHE'S ONE OF THE LIARS WHO IGNORE US! HURT HER, MAIM HER, KILL HER! HURT HER, MAIM HER, KILL HER!'_

Sasuke snapped.

Sasuke blacked out.

Sasuke woke up three hours later in the hospital.

The doctors explained what had happened- Sasuke had attacked the girl who had insulted them, breaking three ribs and snapping her elbow in half before attacking the orphanage workers who had attempted to pull him off. Itachi managed calm Sasuke, but only because Sasuke heard Naruto screaming for him to stop. And Sasuke must listen to his Naruto. In the end, Sasuke had put four people in the hospital in his blind rage.

The doctor told him he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and would be staying in the mental patient ward of the hospital until further notice. He also mentioned that Itachi and Naruto (with his new parents) were waiting to see him.

Of everything that the doctor said, the only thing that registered was that _his _Naruto was_ here. His_ blond angel was here to see _him_.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw said blond angel walk into the room, his signature smile one his face. He didn't seem deterred at all that they were in a hospital- he walked right up to where Sasuke was sitting on a chair and gave him a huge hug.

They didn't say much to each other, just sat together and hugged. At one point Sasuke can vaguely remember crying on his best friend's shoulder, but it didn't matter. Naruto simply cooed comforting words in the raven's ear with a gentle smile on his face.

Sasuke eventually leaned back to look at the blonde's happy face. He didn't understand how Naruto could always be so happy, not that he was complaining. He admired it. Sasuke reached out to touch Naruto's face and trace his whiskers. Naruto started a bit at the gesture but blushed and let the raven continue. Sasuke suddenly remembered what the girl had said.

"I don't know what was wrong with the girl. I like your whiskers. They're cute."

Naruto blushed even more profoundly.

Sasuke poked the rosy red cheeks and found himself wanting to be closer. So, he inched his way closer to Naruto in the already puny space between them. Sasuke was planning on stopping a few centimeters away from Naruto, but the whisker-cheeked boy closed the last bit of distance between them, catching Sasuke by surprise when he left a chaste kiss on his lips.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, stunned, and Naruto just blushed and smiled brightly again. Sasuke leaned in again for another kiss, and this time it lasted longer. Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke's neck and stayed there even once they broke apart.

Sasuke then realized something- the whispering had stopped. Completely. He couldn't even see his parents anymore. That scared him badly, and he almost flew into another panic. He didn't want to be alone! What would he do without his parents at his side to comfort him and keep him company? What stopped him was realizing that there was still a small, bright, blonde boy clinging to him.

Oh. Okay. Sasuke understood. Sasuke wasn't alone at all.

Sasuke realized that even if his parents were really gone, as painful as it was for him to admit to himself, he still had Naruto with him, and as long as Naruto stayed by his side, he would be ok.

"I love you." Naruto mumbled against his shoulder. Sasuke looked a little surprised until he fully registered what Naruto had said. He couldn't help but kiss him again.

Sasuke just needed Naruto.

xox

Sasuke was in the hospital for a total of seven months, twenty two days, seven hours and fifteen minutes. Leaving the hospital was much harder than he originally thought it would be. There were some days where he was perfectly normal and heard no whispering. There were bad days when he heard nothing but the whispers. Horrible days that caused him to lose it and flip out. And every time it happened, his release date was set back even more.

This frustrated Sasuke to no end because he wanted so badly to be with Naruto all the time. He couldn't very well do that when he was locked up in this place, could he? Of course, Naruto visited almost every day after school for two hours and came almost every weekend for almost the full visitor hours. Sometimes Sasuke felt that Naruto would abandon him there and never come back, never visit. That doubt got worse on days when Naruto simply couldn't come.

Sasuke was not aloud a phone, so there was no way to know whether or not Naruto had left him for good. Those were bad days. Days when the whispers slowly grew louder and louder until they were screaming in his ears. Days when he would attack anyone who came near him. Days when he had to be sedated and strapped down.

Sasuke had Itachi too, though. Itachi was almost always there. Always there, always smiling. Just like Naruto. Itachi had even turned eighteen while Sasuke had been in there, and Itachi had told him that he would be adopting him and taking him to live with Itachi after he was able to leave the hospital. The best part? Itachi had managed to arrange so that they would be Naruto's neighbors, so they would be able to see each other all the time.

That made Sasuke very happy. The news even made the whispering stop. For a while, it seemed that Sasuke would be able to leave the hospital. Then, it all when to shit.

About six months into Sasuke's stay, a few days until he would be able to leave, Naruto and his family went on vacation. Naruto warned both him and the hospital staff that he would be gone a few days, and even managed to make arrangements so that he would be able to call Sasuke whenever and the hospital would be able to call him if Sasuke had an attack again.

The phone calls helped, but without Naruto there in person, how was he supposed to guarantee that Naruto was smiling? To Sasuke's horror, the whispers came back. Sasuke remembered what would happen if he had another attack- he would have to stay longer. Ni-san would be disappointed. And- God forbid- Naruto might stop smiling.

Sasuke wasn't sure he could handle that.

But for all his thinking and trying to make the whispers go away again, his panic only made the whispers louder and louder until they were shrieking in his ears. They were so loud, Sasuke couldn't even understand what they were saying anymore. He had pressed his emergency button, the one that they had instructed him to press in case the whispering came back. The hospital staff found Sasuke screaming in a corner of his room, curled up into a ball, pleading to his parents to stop yelling.

Needless to say, Sasuke was set back again.

He was right, Itachi was disappointed in him, but he didn't stop smiling. Naruto was upset too, but he never stopped smiling either. If anything, he became more supportive, coming to the hospital constantly to be with Sasuke. The whispering stopped, and this time it seemed permanent. Naruto's constant encouragement had driven the whispers from his ears, and Sasuke thought he would never be happier to hear nothing but silence.

His release came almost two months later.

Itachi and Naruto's family came to see him, and Sasuke couldn't have been happier when Naruto tackled him in a hug as walked out. He became concerned for a moment when he felt wetness on his shoulder and crying coming from the blonde boy clinging to him, but when Naruto raised his head, he was still smiling. Sasuke didn't understand until he felt tears trickling down his face and realized he was crying too. Tear of joy. Huh.

xox

Three years passed and Sasuke hadn't heard the whispering. Both Sasuke and Naruto were now sixteen years old, and very happy together. There were times when he thought that he would lose it again, like when the idiots at school called them fagots for loving each other. But he didn't lose it, because no matter what they said, Naruto never stopped smiling at him.

Because that's all Sasuke needed. As long as he could keep Sasuke smiling, he would be okay. They would be happy.

This is my first entry on Fanfiction and I really hope anyone who read it enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome!


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